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SpaceX’s rocket reusability dream is within reach after fastest recovery yet

Falcon 9 has returned to port for the second time this month - halfway to a record month for SpaceX. (Richard Angle)

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SpaceX and CEO Elon Musk’s rocket reusability dream appears to be within reach for the first time ever after technicians managed to retract the most recently-launched Falcon 9 booster’s landing legs and bring it horizontal in record time.

On the heels of a SpaceX’s second orbital-class Falcon 9 launch, landing, and recovery just this month, the recovery milestone could mean that booster B1059 is being prepared for the fastest turnaround in the company’s history. Together, with two Starlink launches now complete less than two weeks into June 2020 and a third internet satellite mission scheduled as early as June 22nd, the odds are better than ever that SpaceX will be able to pull off a record launch cadence heading into the second half of the year.

B1059 arrives at Port Canaveral for the first time after its third orbital-class launch. (Richard Angle)

Averaged out, a sustained frequency of one launch every ~7 days would give SpaceX the ability to perform more than 50 orbital launches annually. In fact, just earlier this year, an environmental impact assessment completed for upgrades at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Pad 39A revealed plans for as many as 70 annual launches from SpaceX’s two Florida pads by 2023.

Technically, SpaceX has already demonstrated that those two Florida launch pads – KSC Pad 39A and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) LC-40 – are able to support 60-70 annual launches when pushed to their limits, with the latter pad recently performing two launches in just nine days for a potential maximum of 40 launches in one year. If SpaceX can pull off four Falcon 9 launches in 27 days, as it’s currently scheduled to do, the company will have already come a majority (75%) of the way to demonstrating that its fleet of Falcon rockets is also up to the task.

Currently the newest flown booster in SpaceX’s Falcon 9 fleet, the company has also wasted no time processing B1059 after ~8 am EDT return to Port Canaveral, kicking off landing leg retraction scarcely eight hours after berthing. B1059’s first sea recovery was also the second use of drone ship Of Course I Still Love You’s (OCISLY) upgraded Octagrabber, a tank-like robot used to keep technicians safe while remotely securing Falcon boosters on the high seas.

SpaceX’s first astronaut-proven Falcon 9 booster also became the first to utilize a new recovery strategy involving an upgraded Octagrabber robot. (Richard Angle)

Octagrabber 2.0

By all appearances, SpaceX is using a new recovery method debuted with Falcon 9 booster B1058 earlier this month for the second time. With that significant operational tweak, the company no longer has to crane Falcon 9 boosters off of the drone ship before it can begin landing leg retraction – itself a process that’s barely a year old. By entirely supporting a booster with an upgraded Octagrabber robot and retracting its legs in situ, SpaceX can completely skip a recovery processing step, only lifting the rocket once it’s ready to be broken over (brought horizontal) and loaded onto a transporter.

B1058 broke SpaceX’s booster processing record immediately after the introduction of new and improved methods. (Richard Angle)

Unsurprisingly, on its first use, the improved efficiency allowed SpaceX to process a booster faster than any before it, breaking the previous record of ~1.9 days from port arrival to departure on a horizontal transporter. Now, B1059 is already on pace to beat B1058’s weeks-old recovery turnaround record. Extra-efficient recovery processing and the unprecedentedly rapid booster reuse it could soon enable will be crucial if SpaceX hopes to sustain a cadence of 3-6 Falcon 9 launches per month over the next few years.

Such a cadence is a necessity for the expedient deployment of the 12,000 to 40,000-satellite Starlink internet constellation. With SpaceX all but guaranteed to demonstrate three Starlink launches in a single month (in fact, less than three weeks), the company is making rapid progress in the right direction.

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B1059 sails into Port Canaveral aboard drone ship OCISLY, June 16th. (Richard Angle)

Speeding through recovery

In fact, as of writing, Falcon 9 B1059 has already had all four landing legs retracted and was lifted off drone ship OCISLY, broken over, and placed on SpaceX’s custom booster transporter less than 10 hours after it arrived in port. A step further, SpaceX took an incredible 8-9 hours after docking to bring the booster horizontal, crushing the previous record – ~27 hours – by a factor of three or more.

Given that unprecedented expediency, it wouldn’t be crazy to imagine that SpaceX could be aiming for a record-breaking booster turnaround on one of its next few Starlink launches, scheduled June 22nd and sometime in July. Held by the late booster B1056, SpaceX’s current turnaround record (the time between two launches) is 62 days, while the company and CEO Elon Musk’s ultimate reusability goal is to fly the same booster twice in just 24 hours.

Drone ship recoveries, of course, will almost always require at least a few extra days to travel back to port. Still, the fact that 99% of the processing needed to transport a booster can now be finished in as few as ~8 hours is the first unequivocal proof that a 24-hour turnaround is within SpaceX’s reach – so long as the rocket lands on land or the time in transit is excluded.

(Richard Angle)
(Richard Angle)
(Richard Angle)
(Richard Angle)
(Richard Angle)
(Richard Angle)

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Eric Ralph is Teslarati's senior spaceflight reporter and has been covering the industry in some capacity for almost half a decade, largely spurred in 2016 by a trip to Mexico to watch Elon Musk reveal SpaceX's plans for Mars in person. Aside from spreading interest and excitement about spaceflight far and wide, his primary goal is to cover humanity's ongoing efforts to expand beyond Earth to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere.

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Tesla investors will be shocked by Jim Cramer’s latest assessment

Jim Cramer is now speaking positively about Tesla, especially in terms of its Robotaxi performance and its perception as a company.

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Credit: CNBC Television/YouTube

Tesla investors will be shocked by analyst Jim Cramer’s latest assessment of the company.

When it comes to Tesla analysts, many of them are consistent. The bulls usually stay the bulls, and the bears usually stay the bears. The notable analysts on each side are Dan Ives and Adam Jonas for the bulls, and Gordon Johnson for the bears.

Jim Cramer is one analyst who does not necessarily fit this mold. Cramer, who hosts CNBC’s Mad Money, has switched his opinion on Tesla stock (NASDAQ: TSLA) many times.

He has been bullish, like he was when he said the stock was a “sleeping giant” two years ago, and he has been bearish, like he was when he said there was “nothing magnificent” about the company just a few months ago.

Now, he is back to being a bull.

Cramer’s comments were related to two key points: how NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang describes Tesla after working closely with the Company through their transactions, and how it is not a car company, as well as the recent launch of the Robotaxi fleet.

Jensen Huang’s Tesla Narrative

Cramer says that the narrative on quarterly and annual deliveries is overblown, and those who continue to worry about Tesla’s performance on that metric are misled.

“It’s not a car company,” he said.

He went on to say that people like Huang speak highly of Tesla, and that should be enough to deter any true skepticism:

“I believe what Musk says cause Musk is working with Jensen and Jensen’s telling me what’s happening on the other side is pretty amazing.”

Tesla self-driving development gets huge compliment from NVIDIA CEO

Robotaxi Launch

Many media outlets are being extremely negative regarding the early rollout of Tesla’s Robotaxi platform in Austin, Texas.

There have been a handful of small issues, but nothing significant. Cramer says that humans make mistakes in vehicles too, yet, when Tesla’s test phase of the Robotaxi does it, it’s front page news and needs to be magnified.

He said:

“Look, I mean, drivers make mistakes all the time. Why should we hold Tesla to a standard where there can be no mistakes?”

It’s refreshing to hear Cramer speak logically about the Robotaxi fleet, as Tesla has taken every measure to ensure there are no mishaps. There are safety monitors in the passenger seat, and the area of travel is limited, confined to a small number of people.

Tesla is still improving and hopes to remove teleoperators and safety monitors slowly, as CEO Elon Musk said more freedom could be granted within one or two months.

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Tesla launches ultra-fast V4 Superchargers in China for the first time

Tesla has V4 Superchargers rolling out in China for the first time.

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla already has nearly 12,000 Supercharger piles across mainland China. However, the company just initiated the rollout of the ultra-fast V4 Superchargers in China for the first time, bringing its quick-charging piles to the country for the first time since their launch last year.

The first batch of V4 Superchargers is now officially up and running in China, the company announced in a post on Chinese social media outlet Weibo today.

Tesla China teases arrival of V4 Superchargers in 2025

The company said in the post:

“The first batch of Tesla V4 Superchargers are online. Covering more service areas, high-speed charging is more convenient, and six-layer powerful protection such as rain and waterproof makes charging very safe. Simultaneously open to non-Tesla vehicles, and other brands of vehicles can also be charged. There are more than 70,000 Tesla Superchargers worldwide. The charging network layout covers 100% of the provincial capitals and municipalities in mainland China. More V4 Superchargers will be put into use across the country. Optimize the charging experience and improve energy replenishment efficiency. Tesla will accompany you to the mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas with pure electricity!”

The first V4 Superchargers Tesla installed in China are available in four cities across the country: Shanghai, Zhejiang, Gansu, and Chongqing.

Credit: Tesla China

Tesla has over 70,000 Superchargers worldwide. It is the most expansive and robust EV charging network in the world. It’s the main reason why so many companies have chosen to adopt Tesla’s charging connector in North America and Europe.

In China, some EVs can use Tesla Superchargers as well.

The V4 Supercharger is capable of charging vehicles at speeds of up to 325kW for vehicles in North America. This equates to over 1,000 miles per hour of charging.

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Elon Musk hints at when Tesla could reduce Safety Monitors from Robotaxi

Tesla could be reducing Safety Monitors from Robotaxi within ‘a month or two,’ CEO Elon Musk says.

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Credit: Joe Tegtmeyer | X

Elon Musk hinted at when Tesla could begin reducing Safety Monitors from its Robotaxis. Safety Monitors are Tesla employees who sit in the front passenger seat during the driverless rides, and are there to ensure safety for occupants during the earliest rides.

Tesla launched its Robotaxi fleet in Austin last Sunday, and after eight days, videos and reviews from those who have ridden in the driverless vehicles have shown that the suite is safe, accurate, and well coordinated. However, there have been a few hiccups, but nothing that has put anyone’s safety in danger.

A vast majority — close to all of the rides — at least according to those who have ridden in the Robotaxi, have been performed without any real need for human intervention. We reported on what was the first intervention last week, as a Safety Monitor had to step in and stop the vehicle in a strange interaction with a UPS truck.

Watch the first true Tesla Robotaxi intervention by safety monitor

The Tesla and UPS delivery truck were going for the same street parking space, and the Tesla began to turn into it. The UPS driver parallel parked into the spot, which was much smaller than his truck. It seemed to be more of an instance of human error instead of the Robotaxi making the wrong move. This is something that the driverless cars will have to deal with because humans are aggressive and sometimes make moves they should not.

The Safety Monitors have not been too active in the vehicles. After all, we’ve only seen that single instance of an intervention. There was also an issue with the sun, when the Tesla braked abnormally due to the glare, but this was an instance where the car handled the scenario and proceeded normally.

With the Robotaxi fleet operating impressively, some are wondering when Tesla will begin scaling back both the Safety Monitors and Teleoperators that it is using to ensure safety with these early rides.

CEO Elon Musk answered the inquiry by stating, “As soon as we feel it is safe to do so. Probably within a month or two.”

Musk’s response seems to confirm that there will be fewer Teleoperators and Safety Monitors in the coming months, but there will still be some within the fleet to ensure safety. Eventually, that number will get to zero.

Reaching a point where Tesla’s Robotaxi is driverless will be another significant milestone for the company and its path to fully autonomous ride-sharing.

Eventually, Tesla will roll out these capabilities to consumer-owned vehicles, offering them a path to generate revenue as their car operates autonomously and completes rides.

For now, Tesla is focusing on perfecting the area of Austin where it is currently offering driverless rides for just $4.20 to a small group of people.

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